Topic : Physician-Assisted Suicide –
For this milestone, you will use your writing plan attached below and submit a draft of your persuasive essay. This milestone will help you address critical elements I–III below, which will ultimately inform your final submission of the persuasive essay.
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Specifically, the following critical elements must be addressed:
I. Introduction
This is where readers will have a chance to get an idea of what your essay will be about and what you will prove throughout. Do not give all of your information away here, but give readers a sample of what is to come. Do not forget to review your writing plan to make sure you are hitting all of the points that you planned out, while also stating your claim.
- Provide an overview of the issue you have selected, briefly describing main points and your argument.
- Compose an engaging thesis statement that explains the argument that you will prove and support throughout your essay. This statement will give direction to your essay and should be well thought out.
II. Body
The body is your opportunity to describe and support your argument in depth. Make sure your thoughts and evidence are clear and organized in a way that is easy for readers to follow and understand.
- Be sure that you write multiple paragraphs that are focused, clearly state their intent, and move logically from one to the other, building the thesis argument as the essay progresses.
- Your body paragraphs should support your argument by combining thoughts and ideas with evidence from sources. There is no such thing as a right or wrong argument; the key is how it is supported and the quality of the evidence used.
- Address and refute any opposing viewpoints to your argument. This is your chance to discredit any opposing views, thus strengthening your own.
III. Conclusion
Think of the conclusion as a review of your argument. Use this section to restate your argument and remind readers of your supporting evidence. Think of this as your last chance to persuade readers to agree with you.
- Review your argument. This section should consist of a review of your main points employed to support your argument. Think of this as your last chance to prove your point or your closing arguments.
- Your conclusion should articulate insights about your argument established through your essay. This should follow logically from your essay, referring to key points or quotes used to support your argument.
Running head:
PHYSICIAN ASSISTED SUICIDE
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PHYSICIAN ASSISTED SUICIDE
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Physician-Assisted Suicide Persuasion
The chosen argument to be addressed is physician-assisted suicide, a practice where the physician is providing a potentially deadly medicine to a fatally ill or upon their request. Being a student pursuing a Bachelor’s in Nursing, this paper is aimed at convincing the healthcare providers to put a stop to this practice and consider it illegal and unethical. This means that such practices should not be encouraged within hospitals (Byock, 2016).
The above argument is guided by the three key points i.e. physician-assisted suicide is causing danger to the weaker and vulnerable while at the same time corrupting the practice of medicine and the doctor-patient relationship; physicians are not supposed to kill patients or help them kill themselves, and the terminally ill patients are not in a position of making rational decisions about their lives. The medical ethics is establishing the role of the physicians to the patients as well as society. Physicians are guided by the principle of beneficence and in this case, they are required to act in the best interest of the patients (Elmore, Wright, & Paradis, 2018).
The non-maleficence principle requires physicians to avoid and reduce harm. These medical ethics are supporting the rights of the patient to say no treatment related to the life-sustaining treatment. The intention, in this case, is to prevent or withdraw the treatment approach that a patient might consider to be not consistent with objectives and predilections. Death is supposed to follow naturally after rejection of treatment due to the underlying illness. Physicians are therefore required not to take part in intentionally ending the client’s life. Physician-assisted suicide leads to the breaching of the particular prohibitions and general duties of beneficence and non-maleficence. Supporting physician-assisted practice is the act of breaching the function of the physician as a healer and comforter (Brueck & Sulmasy, 2019).
The targeted audience with this essay is the doctors who do not support the idea of ending the physician-assisted suicide practice. This audience is supporting this practice thus breaching the ethical obligations about caring for the patients. This practice conflicts the ethical belief that considers human life as sacred and relevant; therefore, the goal of this essay paper is to support the moral and ethical practices among physicians to support the value of life even in the critical conditions. This goal is aimed at ensuring that all the physicians who do not support the idea of stopping the physician-assisted suicide are able to engage in the legal and ethical practices that support the sacred life of human rather than terminating it even in the terminal situation (Elmore, Wright, & Paradis, 2018).
There are also challenges that are expected when supporting this argument. The challenge might come from the principle of respect and autonomy of the patient and the role of the physician in relieving pain or suffering of the patient. The supporters of physician-assisted suicide might oppose this argument by stating that the process is an act of compassion and respect to the choice of the patient and fulfilling the obligation of the non-abandonment.
The potential resources required for the completion of this essay include the data on the reported cases of physician-assisted suicide. The policies or visions of the facilities are also important resources for the completion of this essay. The data on the reported cases of physician-assisted suicide helps in giving a true picture of some of the incidence of the practice and to determine the urgent needs to educate and design new or update rules related to the quality health care and ending of patient life. The policies and the vision of the hospital help in revealing about the commitment of the facility towards improving the quality of patient healthcare by helping the patient to regain their health and well being (Elmore, Wright, & Paradis, 2018).
Each healthcare facility is supposed to show the commitment towards promoting the effective patient-physician relationship that is aimed at improving the safety and the quality of the healthcare received by the patient. The highest number of reported cases of physician-assisted suicide is an indication that hospitals or the physician endanger the weaker and vulnerable patients through corrupting their medical practices. Lack of clear vision about safety and quality healthcare on the policies of the hospital is an indication that physicians in those facilities do not value the fact that terminally ill patients are not able to make rational decisions about their lives. These physicians always participate in ending the life of the patients rather than making efforts to improve it and let the natural action take its course (Sulmasy, 2017).
The most important and stronger point is about the endangering of the weaker and vulnerable patients through corrupting the medical practices which ruin the relationships between the physician and their patients. The relationship between the physician and the patient is supposed to be one that promotes well-being, safety, and quality healthcare services. Terminally ill patients are always vulnerable and always weaker and desperate to make any choice provided that it can help in relieving them from pain. A physician is not supposed to take advantage of the patient’s vulnerability to engage in physician-assisted practice since it is against the ethical conduct that is aimed at protecting the life of the patient and improving the quality of services received by the patient (Sulmasy, 2017)s.
The revision strategy when writing this essay will be based on the flow of the argument with the focus on the identified issue. The key points are supposed to be used to support the argument being made. It is also important to discuss some of the possible challenges that are faced when implementing the argument or presenting the argument to the targeted parties or audience. The grammar and consistency of points are also important for the revision of this essay.
The feedback provided is important in helping to correct some errors that were made. After receiving the feedbacks, an exhaustive argument about the issue was provided. This is important in supporting the validity of the argument as well as supporting the three key points that have been used to support the argument.
References
Brueck, M. A., & Sulmasy, D. P. (2019). The genealogy of death: A chronology of US organizations promoting euthnasia and assisted suicide. Palliative & Supportive Care, 17 (5), 604-608.
Byock, I. (2016). The case against physician-assisted suicide and euthanasia. The Oxford handbook of ethics at the end of life, 366.
Elmore, J., Wright, K. D., & Paradis, M. (2018). Nurses’ moral experiences of assisted death: A meta-synthesis of qualitative research. Nursing Ethics, 25 (8), 955-972.
Sulmasy, L. S. (2017). Ethics and the Legalization of Physician-Assisted Suicide: An American College of Physicians Position Paper. Annals of Internal Medicine, 167 (8), 576-578.
